Research is “ideally, the careful, unbiased investigation of a problem, based insofar as possible, upon demonstrable facts and involving refined distinctions, interpretations, and usually some generalizations”

Meanwhile, Crawford (1946) stated that research is simply a systematic and refined technique of thinking, employing specialized tools, instruments, and procedures in order to obtain a more adequate solution of a problem than would be possible under ordinary means. It starts with a problem, collects data or facts, analyzes these critically, and reaches decisions based on actual evidence. It involves original work instead of a mere exercise of personal opinion. It evolves from a genuine desire to know rather than a desire to prove something.

A research may either be a qualitative or qualitative.

Basically, quantitative research dwell on experimental designs and correlations while qualitative researchers are more concerned on descriptions, judgments and evaluations.

Advantages of Qualitative Research

One of the approaches usually used in qualitative research is the descriptive research.

Krathwohl stated that “Descriptive research involves collecting data in order to answer questions . . . about the current status of the situation under study”. If there are statistics used in the study, the study is not inferential but a descriptive one. This is because descriptions of the variables were merely stated and that there is no single attempt of testing the hypothesis, controlling the variables and even measuring the strength of relationships.

Qualitative research has the following advantages:

1. It allows the researcher to describe existing phenomena and current situations.

2. It is of much use if a researcher wants to examine the totality of a unit.

3. It yields results that can be helpful in pioneering new ground.

Disadvantages of Qualitative Research

• The bias of the researcher can simply dictate the design of the study.
• The bias of the researcher can permeate in the data collection process.
• The subjects and the sources chosen are not equally credible.
• The outcome of the study might be influenced already by some of the subjects and sources of the study.
• Some background information that may be missing in the conduct of the research.
• Study group may not be representative of the larger population.
• There is a great possibility of analyzing the observations according to the bias of the researcher.
• The sources or subjects being studies are always affected by the mere presence of the researcher. Therefore, any data collected is somewhat skewed.
• It is not easy to gain the trust and confidence of the participants of the study. It takes a lot of effort for one to gather the information needed that would suit the needs of a research study.